Teens, heritage on collision course

Indian girls dream of beauty pageants, but parents don't

July 26, 2003|By Rex W. Huppke, Tribune staff reporter.

"Indian moms push for education, not for this," Shah said, pointing into a conference room where her daughter was striking poses with the other girls. "In India, if you get good grades, you become a doctor or an engineer. You don't become a fashion model or designer."

But Maitri Shah will attend Michigan State University in the fall to major in fashion design, so what's a mother to do?

"This is her dream," Falguni Shah said, smiling. "And I support what she wants."

For Patel and others who don't have the support of parents, the pageant is their version of the movie "Bend It like Beckham," in which an Indian girl goes against the ideals of her parents and plays on an all-female soccer team.

`Everything's about family'

"That's seriously every Indian girl's struggle," said Neha Gore, 16, of Libertyville. "You can't do this, you shouldn't do that. They don't like the film and modeling industry because it's too uncertain. Everything's about family, so you have to find a way to support that family."

In that vein, Patel will attend Roosevelt University in the fall, planning to geta double major that exemplifies the two disparate sides of her world: biotechnology and fashion design.

"I'm just trying to keep everybody happy, that's all," Patel said.

And what about the fashion show, the march down the runway she has always dreamed of, the unorthodox event that goes against her parents' wishes?

In that case, she says, she's only concerned about keeping one person happy.